


Charming

by AriWrote



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Doesn't mean Nohr doesn't cause problems for Hoshido, F/F, Fae & Fairies, Nohr is a Faerie Kingdom, The Sakulise is up to interpretation, War between Hohsido and Nohr never happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 04:35:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6890425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriWrote/pseuds/AriWrote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sakura nearly jumps when the girl pauses and jerks her head in Sakura’s direction. Even from this distance, Sakura can see the girl’s eyes clearly. They’re purple, startlingly so, and seem to burn like a fire. Even if the girl looks to be no older than Sakura, her eyes are that of something ancient. Something primal in Sakura screams at her to run, but she can’t move.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Charming

Sakura first sees her on the anniversary of Corrin’s death. It’d snowed the night before and the ground is a brilliant white landscape which once might have enticed Sakura to leave the comfort of her room and play among it. Now it just felt disrespectful to the dead.

Others did not share her hesitance, however. From Sakura’s room, she can see a strange young girl dancing in the white scenery. It’s the girl’s hair, a golden color that almost seems to glow, that first caught Sakura’s attention. What kept it was the way the girl played among the snow, her tiny hands carefully forming snowballs that she hurled into the distance. Even though she’s alone, mirth lights up her face and Sakura can practically hear the bubbly laughter spilling from her lips. The sight is made odder by the girl’s attire.

She’s dressed in a black dress reminiscent of the fashion of the country to the west Hoshido. The dress seems more fitting of a dinner party than outdoor play and provides so little protection against the chill that Sakura feels herself shivering in sympathy. The girl doesn’t seem to mind, only keeps playing in the snow and laughing at seemingly nothing.

Sakura nearly jumps when the girl pauses and jerks her head in Sakura’s direction. Even from this distance, Sakura can see the girl’s eyes clearly. They’re purple, startlingly so, and seem to burn like a fire. Even if the girl looks to be no older than Sakura, her eyes are that of something ancient. Something primal in Sakura screams at her to run, but she can’t move.

The girl tilts her head and her mouth opens as if she was speaking, but the words were lost to the wind. When Sakura makes no movement either to approach or retreat, the girl frowns and starts walking towards her. Sakura can hear her heart pounding in her ears.

“Sakura? Are you coming inside? You’ve been out there for awhile,” a voice behind Sakura says, jerking her attention from the girl and towards her brother.

“I-” She stutters. Had Ryoma not noticed? She tears her eyes from her brother and to the courtyard.

It’s empty. Not just empty, though. The snow is as undisturbed as it had been that morning. There was nothing that could ever indicated the girl had even been there. Swallowing the fear that still lingered within her, Sakura replied, “I’m coming, Big Brother.”

* * *

By the time Sakura sees the girl again, it’s been months. The snow has melted and winter is slowly making way for spring. Sakura has managed to convince herself that the girl was nothing more than a dream or something of that sort. Logically, there was no way for some strange girl dressed in foreign garb to even get into that section of the castle. It’s a wonder she hadn’t realized this before.      

Her breathing stutters when she notices the familiar profile resting in a patch of wildflowers on one of her walks. Hana and Subaki are a little ways back, far enough that Sakura can pretend she is alone but close enough that should she need their help they could provide it. When she pauses, they mirror her.

She thinks for a moment to call them forward to deal with the girl, but quickly casts that thought aside. That girl had just been her imagination, right? So this one’s likeness was just a coincidence. A flowerbed in the woods was such an odd place for a young girl to sleep alone. What if she was injured? Sakura shouldn’t be panicking; she should be trying to help. She takes a step forward to better examine the sleeping girl.

As if she knew someone was approaching, the girl starts to wake up. She stretches out like a cat and her eyes flutter open a moment later. They’re just as bright and terrifying as they’d been that winter day. The girl’s lips curl into a smile. It’s soft and gentle; it almost makes Sakura forget why she’d been afraid in the first place. The girl’s voice is musical when she speaks -as if each word is a song to be sung-, “It’s nice to see you again.”

Sakura’s voice is shaky as she responds, “It- it’s you.”

The girl frowns and props herself up on her elbows, “That’s rude, miss. When you meet someone, you’re supposed to exchange greetings! Try again.”

Sakura’s face is red. It’s an instinct to feel ashamed for being rude and it is somehow stronger than her terror. She squeaks out the next words. “Hello,” she pauses, realizing that she did not know who she was speaking to, “Uhm, I didn’t get your name?”

The girl’s laughter is loud and for a moment, Sakura worries she’d done something wrong. She’s still smiling though and Sakura can only hope that’s a good thing.

“I’ll give you mine when you give me yours,” the girl says once her laughter has calmed down to nothing more than the occasional giggle.

“What?”

The girl pushes to her feet and brushes off grass and a few stray wildflowers that had caught on her dress while she’d slept. Now that she’s standing to her full height, Sakura realizes that she’s shorter than her. The girl only comes up to Sakura’s chin, but she still manages to make Sakura feel as if she’s being looked down on. The girl’s eyes are locked on Sakura. “Like I said, if you tell me your name, I promise to tell you mine. We can be friends then. Weird I know, but you kind of owe me for that rude greeting!”      

“I-,” Sakura stutters out. She takes a step back, as if maybe being further from the girl might somehow lessen the intensity of her gaze. Would everything be alright if she just offered her name? That wasn’t a hard price to pay. “M-my name is-”

She feels something jerk her back. Suddenly, Hana and Subaki are there and they’re yelling. Everything feels fuzzy and it takes a moment for Sakura’s vision to adjust. Both her retainers look pale. She realizes that she’s somehow fallen over.

“Lady Sakura, thank the gods! I was so worried,” Hana says, once Sakura has steadied herself. There are tears at the corner of her eyes and she looks moments away from pulling Sakura into a hug.

“You were just staring at some flowerbed. We thought you were just admiring them but you didn’t respond when we got closer. When Hana touched you, you nearly fainted.” Subaki’s a little more collected than Hana, but it’s clear he’s just as concerned, “We think it’s best that we return to the castle, Milady. If you’ve fallen sick, we must have you looked over soon.”

“O-of course,” Sakura says. Through the trees, the sky is steadily getting darker. Had it truly been that long since she’d set out? As she follows her retainers out the forest, she risks a glance at the patch of flowers. Like she expected, there was no sign of the girl. She shakes her head and sighs. Had it all been a dream once again?

When she turns her eyes back to the path, she swears that she sees something golden flash among the trees. She tries her best to ignore it.

* * *

“Elise, sweetheart? What are you doing here? It’s getting late,” Camilla’s voice is sweet, but there’s something stern in it.

Elise shudders and steps away from her hiding spot among the trees. Her eyes do not leave the figure of the departing Hoshidan princess until she has to strain her eyes to make out her figure. It is only then that she looks at her sister, “Nothing, Big Sis! Just thought I’d play in these parts of the woods today.”

“I’m certain it has nothing to do with a little princess who likes to walk through these paths. That would be absolutely ridiculous. Wouldn’t it, Elise?” Camilla hums and places a hand around Elise’s shoulders. Elise supposes it’s supposed to be seen as an affectionate gesture, but she’s familiar enough with it to know that Camilla’s doing it to prevent her from escaping back into the forest.

“Yeah,” Elise says, eyes trained on the ground in front of her.  Had she been that obvious? Her interest in the Hoshidan princess had started only recently, after the girl had noticed Elise playing in her courtyard that day. The princess shouldn’t have been able to see her, and yet she somehow had.  Ever since, Elise had been trying to get to know the princes, but today was the first day she’d been able to talk to her.

She has no ill intentions for the other princess. She only wants a friend out of the girl. Her methods are a little odd, she won’t argue that, but what was one to expect from her? No one had cared to explain to Elise the proper method for befriending a human that hadn’t been brought to the court by her father.

Camilla does not push the matter further, and Elise does not bring it up. It is only as the two sisters are approaching Windmire-two gnarled trees that curled towards each other, at the base is a particularly vibrant circle of green grass framed by wildflowers (To a normal human, it would have seemed to simply be a strange work of nature. To them, it was the entrance to world of Faeries)-, that Camilla stops. Elise stumbles forward, but does not fall thanks to Camilla’s grip on her shoulder.

“You know,” Camilla says, drawing out the words, “I might be more inclined to remain tight lipped on where our darling little princess is disappearing to every night if you could promise me something.”

Elise blinks up at her sister, “What would that be?”

Something mischievous flashes in Camilla’s eyes and she leans close enough that she can whisper in Elise’s ear, “Well, next time you head out, take your darling older sister along. I’m rather interested in seeing what has fascinated you so about these nobles.”

Elise has never agreed to anything so fast. She ignores the way Camilla starts laughing at her red face and pushes out of her sister’s grip to walk through the entrance to Windmire. She hopes Camilla hears as she calls over her shoulder, “You better keep your promise!”

**Author's Note:**

> There's a actually a lot more to this AU I don't cover? Further drabbles in this verse might touch upon them. I do mention it a little on my [tumblr](https://ariwrote.tumblr.com/).


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